Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

More than 277,000 COVID-19 cases among people who received COVID-19 vaccines were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021 but not disclosed to the public, newly obtained files show.

Some 144,349 cases among partially vaccinated people were reported by 32 jurisdictions to the CDC across three months in 2021, according to some of the files, which were acquired by The Epoch Times through the Freedom of Information Act.

Partially vaccinated has been defined by the CDC as a person who received at least one dose of a vaccine. People were described as fully vaccinated if at least 14 days had elapsed since they completed a primary series.

The Moderna and Pfizer primary series consisted of two doses while Johnson & Johnson’s consisted of one dose.

The cases were recorded in California, Maryland, New York, Texas, and 28 other jurisdictions in April, May, and June 2021 and reported to the CDC.

The CDC never disclosed the numbers to the public.

“These data on partially vaccinated persons were not reported publicly but rather, were collected to ensure that that they were being appropriately excluded from the numbers of vaccine breakthrough cases as described as a best practice on the CDC website,” staffers at the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases told The Epoch Times in a letter.

On a webpage advising state and local officials on how to analyze patterns of COVID-19 by vaccination status, the CDC recommends excluding people who only received one Moderna or Pfizer dose or analyzing them separately.

The exclusion is recommended “because only people that have received all of the recommended primary series doses and have had the required duration of time to form a protective immunological response after vaccination (14 days, per the definition) would be expected to receive the full benefit of the COVID-19 vaccination,” the CDC said. “In general, the immunological response to a primary vaccination series usually takes 2–4 weeks. Only partial protection is provided to partially vaccinated persons.”

Stopped Reporting

The CDC stopped reporting post-vaccination infections among the fully vaccinated, or breakthrough cases, in May 2021, after disclosing that 10,262 breakthrough infections were reported to the agency by 46 jurisdictions through April 30, 2021.

The CDC said that 995 of the cases resulted in hospitalization and 160 resulted in death.

The CDC said it shifted to only reporting breakthrough cases that resulted in hospitalization or death “to help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance.”

It’s not clear how many infections in the partially vaccinated that the CDC did not disclose before led to hospitalization or death.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 25, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Changed Definition

The CDC initially defined a breakthrough case as people who tested positive seven or more days after completing a primary series but changed the definition to testing positive at least 14 days after completion of a primary series after emailing about “vaccine failure,” documents obtained by The Epoch Times showed.

“CDC made the change to the definition of a breakthrough infection time period due to the most current data that showed that the 14-day period was required for an effective antibody response to the vaccines,” a CDC spokesman told The Epoch Times recently via email.

The CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases falsely said in the new letter that it never changed the definition.

“Since COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough surveillance began (January 2021), the definition of a breakthrough infection has been the same,” the center claimed.

The CDC has not sent a correction as of yet. It has made other false claims during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which remain uncorrected.

The CDC also said that some of the partially vaccinated numbers were reported on one of its webpages, but a review of archived versions of that page did not show that to be the case. The page, which has been taken down, said that cases among the partially vaccinated were excluded.

Hid Other Cases

Another 133,000 post-vaccination cases occurred among Medicare beneficiaries through September 2021, according to Humetrix, a contractor that analyzed the data. The case count excluded partially vaccinated people.

Humetrix provided the data to the CDC in August 2021, according to other documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The CDC spoke in meetings with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the CDC’s panel of vaccine advisers, and the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which advises the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after receiving that data but did not present it to either one.

The meetings resulted in the approval of Pfizer’s vaccine and the authorization of a Pfizer booster. The CDC then recommended both for wide swaths of the U.S. population.

The CDC declined to comment on withholding the Humetrix data.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was forced to clarify the UK’s stance on sending troops to Ukraine, after newly appointed Defense Secretary Grant Shapps unveiled ongoing discussions about expanding the UK-led training program for Ukrainian troops, and potentially sending British instructors back into the country, while offering Kiev unspecified naval support in the Black Sea.

After a visit to the Salisbury Plain training ground on Friday, Shapps told The Telegraph that “I was talking today about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well.”

During his trip to Kiev earlier this week, the new defense chief, who took his post after a government reshuffle a month ago, apparently saw an “opportunity” to bring more things “in country.” Shapps explained he meant “not just training,” but also weapons manufacturing, and he praised the British arms giant BAE Systems for its plans to localize in Ukraine.

“I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing. So I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country,” he added.

In his discussions with the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Shapps also reportedly said that Britain’s Navy could play a role in “defending commercial vessels” in the Black Sea, according to The Telegraph.

“Britain is a naval nation so we can help and we can advise, particularly since the water is international water,” he said, without elaborating what kind of help he offered Zelensky.

It didn’t take long for two things to happen: i) Russia condemning the proposal and warning it would accelerate WW3, and ii) the UK backtracking.

On Sunday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev who currently serves as the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, suggested that British soldiers training Ukrainian troops in Ukraine would be legitimate targets for Russian forces, as would German factories producing Taurus missiles should they supply Kyiv. Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, and has become one of the most hawkish and anti-Western figures in Russian politics, said such steps by the West were bringing World War Three closer.

In a post on Telegram, Medvedev first slammed Shapps’s proposal to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, in addition to training Ukrainian armed forces in Britain or other Western countries as at present.

“(This will) turn their instructors into a legitimate target for our armed forces,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram. “Understanding perfectly well that they will be ruthlessly destroyed. And not as mercenaries, but namely as British NATO specialists.”

Medvedev then turned his focus to Germany, vilifying those who want Berlin to supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles that could strike Russian territory and try to limit Moscow’s supply to its army.

“They say this is in accordance with international law. Well, in that case, strikes on German factories where these missiles are made would also be in full compliance with international law,” Medvedev said.

“These morons are actively pushing us towards World War Three,” Medvedev said.

Realizing that he probably does not want his government to end in a mushroom cloud, British PM Rishi Sunak quickly backtracked and during a visit to Burnley on Sunday, said he wanted to make the situation “absolutely clear,” explaining that Shapps did not mean British soldiers would be deployed in Ukraine during the conflict with Russia, claiming there was “some misreporting” of comments by Defense Secretary Shapps, who floated the idea; he did however say that the UK has been training Ukrainian soldiers on British soil for “for a long time.”

According to the PM, the defense secretary actually meant that “it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine.”

“But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now, there are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict. That’s not what’s happening,” he insisted.

London continues to provide military training to the Ukrainians, but it’s “doing that here in the UK,” Sunak assured.

US Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also voiced alarm over Britain’s apparent plans to send troops to Ukraine, writing on X (formerly Twitter): “They’re going to start World War III” and that “the US cannot participate” in such a deployment, stressing: “No American troops” in Ukraine.

Since the start of its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has repeatedly argued that the provision of arms, intelligence-sharing and training of Kiev’s troops already means that Western nations have de facto become parties to the conflict.

Former President Trump is suing Christopher Steele, the former MI-6 spook who assembled the infamous “Steele Dossier,” a collection of fabricated Kremliny rumors about Donald Trump, which was funded by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign via a law firm intermediary, and primarily sub-sourced from a Russian analyst, Igor Danchenko – who was later found not guilty of giving false statements to the FBI.

After the former spy was commissioned by Fusion GPS, a DC-based intelligence outfit hired by the DNC and Clinton’s campaign for various election-related deeds (and which employed the wife of a high-ranking DOJ official, and was accused of taking money from the Russian government, and met with the Russian Trump Tower meeting operative hours before she met Don Jr. to allegedly offer ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton’s activities in Russia), the Steele Dossier was made public in January 2017 after BuzzFeed published several memos written by Steele, purporting to detail Trump’s alleged “activities in Russia.”

Yes, the same Russia where a Hunter Biden-linked company accepted a $3.5 million payment from the wife of the former mayor of Moscow in 2014, who Joe Biden met with according to former Hunter partner Devon Archer. And the same Russia where Bill Clinton snagged $500k for a 2010 speech & hung out with Russian President Vladimir Putin at his house, right before the Uranium One deal went down with the Hillary-run State Department (and Bill sought State’s permission to meet with a Russian nuclear official).

The documents don’t indicate what decision the State Department finally made. But current and former aides to both Clintons told The Hill on Thursday the request to meet the various Russians came from other people, and the ex-president’s aides and State decided in the end not to hold any of the meetings with the Russians on the list.

Bill Clinton instead got together with Vladimir Putin at the Russian leader’s private homestead. -The Hill

Anyhow…

The Steele dossier was used by the Obama DOJ and the intelligence community to smear Trump as a Russian asset. Its various fabrications were legitimized under the guise of a legitimate DOJ investigation, and featured frequent strategic media leaks, ‘expert’ opinions, and manipulated evidence such as an email altered by former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, which was used to renew a wiretap warrant on Trump Campaign adviser Carter Page.

Then there was the fraudulent ‘Alfa Bank Server’ allegation made by Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman, who pleaded guilty to not telling the FBI that he was Hillary’s employee when he alleged that Trump was directly communicating with the Kremlin via a covert server.

Steele peddled the dossier to the State Department – which then passed it along to former FBI deputy assistant director of counterintelligence Peter ‘We’ll stop Trump‘ Strzok. Steele also met with the DOJ’s Bruce Ohr (whose wife, as we noted above, Fusion GPS employee), who he told that Russia had Trump “over a barrel.”

(Bruce Ohr was consequentially demoted for making “consequential errors in judgement” for failing to inform his supervisors for his role in Russiagate, and retired on Sept. of 2020 “after his counsel was informed that a final decision on a disciplinary review being conducted by Department senior career officials was imminent”).

Then there was the infamous ‘pee tape’ allegation that Trump paid prostitutes to urinate in a bed in Moscow where Barack and Michelle Obama had stayed, and that the Kremlin had a tape of the whole thing.

The 35-page dossier was publicly disavowed by high ranking FBI officials, including the bureau’s former deputy director Andrew McCabe, who told lawmakers in November 2020 that he would have never approved the Carter Page wiretap if he’d known the dossier was inaccurate.

And now, Trump is suing Steele…

According to the Independent, the 77-year-old former president is bringing a data protection claim against Steele, and his consulting firm Orbis Business Intelligence, in the UK.

“Proceedings have been issued on behalf of President Donald J. Trump against Orbis Business Intelligence Limited. The claim relates to breaches of UK Data Protection law arising from the inaccurate processing of the President’s personal data by Orbis following the publication of the false ‘Steele Dossier,’” said Trump attorney Tim Lowles.

“The President’s claim seeks remedies including that the inaccurate data contained within the Steele Dossier be erased or rectified together with the payment of damages,” the statement continues.

On October 16, a two-day hearing will commence according to the report, citing a High Court order published Thursday.

Steele has defended his work, telling the Oxford Union in March 2022: “What is being called the dossier was actually a series of single-source intelligence reports over a period of time, if you like, almost a running commentary on the election campaign and Russia’s perspective on it — and it comes from the Russian perspective of the telescope if you like,” adding “The sources were Russian, they were reporting on how Russia saw it, and of course, that may in some cases be rather different than how it was viewed in America at the other end of the telescope.”

By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

Milton Friedman made the term “long and variable lag” famous. Everyone involved in markets and the economy has been struggling with the question of “what is the amount of lag” that we currently face on monetary policy. “Conventional” wisdom, as I understand it, is that it takes 3 to 6 months for economic policy to be truly felt. I think that is far too short of a “lag” effect.

I’m going to ignore the fact that there was ongoing stimulus when the Fed started to hike. For example, things like the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” came out during the hiking cycle. In addition, the Fed was still expanding its balance sheet almost until the time of the first hike. Finally, student loans were in moratorium and there were promises (and attempts, with limited success) of debt forgiveness.

Basically, I will ignore all the reasons why the lag effect was impacted early on. I will instead focus on the reason why it is still taking so long to kick in.

Borrowers Were Smart

What we will try to demonstrate is that borrowers were very smart and that “smartness” is translating into a much longer lag time for monetary policy to kick in than “normal”.

We will focus on the U.S. investment grade bond market as it is what I live and breath and feel most comfortable discussing (and I have good access to information).

I do think that it applies well to all corporate borrowers, especially since we saw private credit markets explode in size.
I expect that if we did a similar analysis on the auto loan market and mortgage market, we would see that consumers also made some very smart decisions in recent years (minimizing the immediate impact of monetary policy).

We will show that in the corporate credit market, issuers took advantage of incredibly low yields to lock in borrowing costs for longer (and in bigger sizes) than we’ve ever seen.

The more you borrowed at low rates (for extended maturities), the longer the monetary policy lag time is going to be as it will take years for the real impact to be felt (i.e., not in 3 to 6 months). This applies to corporations and households and it should not surprise us that 18 months after the first hike (and barely 6 months after the “slowing” of hikes) we aren’t seeing the impact that many expected.

We tried to describe this using the “birthday paradox” in 99 Problems but the Fed Ain’t One. It is also part of the reason why (only recently) we have been warning that The Real Story is Real Yields.

Without further ado, let’s start analyzing the “smartness” and why we have yet to see much of an impact from what seems like an unprecedented cycle of hikes.

IG Borrowers Were Very Smart

The Fed created ZIRP and some of the easiest monetary conditions ever seen. Not only were they growing their balance sheet with Treasuries, but they also figured out (in conjunction with the Treasury Department) how to buy corporate bonds and even fixed income ETFs!

In any case, we will show that corporations responded to this opportunity and that response is why the lag effect is “laggier” than ever.

Average Coupon

While I tend to live in a “mark to market” world, most companies live in an “accrual accounting” world. It might be fun to watch (and trade) the gyrations in bond markets, but the reality is that current yields are largely irrelevant to most borrowers. What matters is the average coupon. For all the following charts we use data based on the Bloomberg Corporation Bond Index.

The current average coupon is 2.99%. It is creeping higher (towards 3%), but it is still much lower than current yields are anywhere on the curve.

Historically, that is an incredibly low average coupon. Prior to July 2020 this index wasn’t below a 3% coupon in well over 20 years (2000 is as far back as I went for today’s purposes).

Almost 60% of the time (prior to July 2020) the average coupon was above 4%!

So, even after a series of aggressive hikes, average coupons are still low by historical standards.

Despite the Fed hiking rates by 5.25% in less than 2 years, the average coupon has only trickled up to 2.99%. The low was 2.42% in January 2020. So, we’ve seen the average coupon increase by less than 60 bps in the almost 2 years since the hiking cycle began. It will continue to go higher as there is no place on the yield curve to hide. The 10-year at 4.57% is at the lowest point on the Treasury curve and that is before adding any credit spread.

The average coupon is impressive, but it only tells part of the story of just how well borrowers (at least corporate borrowers) navigated ZIRP. However, I strongly believe that individuals, small businesses, and leveraged companies did this well too.

Average Maturity

While traders tend to live in a world driven by duration and DV01 (dollar value of a basis point), most people focus on how long they borrowed money for. How long you’ve locked in your debt for is how you manage your roll risk (for better or for worse, though we will demonstrate that corporations did it for the better).

While not quite as high as it was back in 2000, the average maturity is at 8.5, which is longer than average for this index. It climbed steadily, dipped a bit in 2019, and then rose rapidly while curves were inverted and yields were low. It has come down now, presumably because companies are less interested in issuing longer-dated bonds and some (as we will see next) are apparently paying down debt (unlike our government, but that is a story/rant for another day – US Govt Credit Rating).

Since April 2020, the average maturity went from 7.6 to almost 9 – an incredibly fast rise.

All else being equal, the average maturity declines over time as bonds come closer to their maturity date (it takes an impressive amount of long-dated issuance to drive that maturity extension). It is still coming down, but from elevated levels.

The fact that investment grade borrowers (and I’m sure consumers and other borrowers) extended their maturities to take advantage of historically low yields and inverted curves means that it will take even longer for today’s current high yields to work their way into the system (i.e., it will make monetary policy effects even laggier).

Debt Issuance

Maybe “net” issuance is the right number to look at, but for now, let’s just see what happened to debt issuance (based on the Bloomberg league table data).

2023 isn’t finished, but IG debt issuance has been reasonably stable. 2020 saw a 57% increase from 2019! While 2021 slowed down a bit, it was the 2nd highest in the past decade (behind 2020) and we still saw 25% more debt issued that year compared to 2019.

While net issuance is probably the correct metric, outright issuance alone is enough to send a strong message that companies took advantage of ZIRP to issue lots of debt! That helps explain why the average maturity increased relatively rapidly (and the average coupon dropped reasonably quickly). Typically, a surge in issuance helps overcome the inertia inherent in broad market indices.

Better Preparation Leads to Longer Lag Times

The more people prepared for a change in the rate environment, the longer it will take for that change to impact borrowers.

It seems clear that companies (and borrowers of all types) locked in lower for longer, which by definition (or maybe it is axiomatic) means longer lag times.

I think that the Fed should be very cautious (more cautious than they already have been) about raising rates as the impact is only beginning to be felt and piling on will cause more trouble down the road (especially if the Fed doesn’t want to cut any time soon, which they don’t).

Smart borrowers need to be accounted for in thinking about lag times and many of you on this distribution list deserve a pat on the back for being so well prepared to mitigate an aggressive Fed!

Update (1146ET): House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday responded to a threat by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to oust him from the Speakershp, telling CBS News’ “Face The Nation” that it’s “personal” for the Florida lawmaker.

“That’s nothing new, he’s tried to do that from the moment I ran for office,” said McCarthy, adding “I’ll survive, you know this is personal with Matt.”

“Matt voted against the most conservative bill to protect our border…secure border,” McCarthy continued.

“I’ll survive,” House @SpeakerMcCarthy says after Rep. Matt Gaetz said Sunday that he will introduce a motion to vacate McCarthy from his seat this week.

“Bring it on. Let’s get over with it.” pic.twitter.com/SnCVIHTN4f

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 1, 2023

Gaetz, meanwhile, hopped on ABC‘s “This Week” to say that McCarthy will get his wish, and that he’s going to file a motion this week to vacate him as speaker.

.@SpeakerMcCarthy is going to get his wish. I’m going to file a motion to vacate against him this week.

If at this time next week Kevin McCarthy is still Speaker of the House, it will be because the Democrats bailed him out. He can be their Speaker, not mine. pic.twitter.com/ITlcwynY39

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 1, 2023

*  *  *

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced on Sunday that he will file a motion this week to remove McCarthy as speaker, and will use a parliamentary process that hasn’t resulted in the removal of a speaker since 1910.

The move comes after McCarthy reached across the aisle for bipartisan support to pass a Continuing Resolution which will keep the US government operating until mid-November, and then Democrats revealed that McCarthy had struck a side deal to guarantee Ukraine funds at a later date.

Wow.@SpeakerMcCarthy made a side Ukraine deal with Democrats and didn’t tell House Republicans until after his Continuing Resolution passed.

More deceit. https://t.co/LC91laLyTp

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 1, 2023

Speaking with CNN‘s “State of the Union,” Gaetz said he will file what’s known as a motion to vacate.

“I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid,” said Gaetz. “I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy.“

When asked how many Republicans were behind him, Gaetz said he has enough.

“Enough so that when you host this show next week, if Kevin McCarthy is still Speaker of the House he will be serving at the pleasure of the Democrats,” said Gaetz. “He will be working for the Democrats. The only way that McCarthy will be Speaker of the House is if Democrats bail him out. Now they probably will.”

Matt Gaetz wants McCarthy OUT:

“I intend to file a motion to vacate Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House this week. We need to rip off the bandaid.” pic.twitter.com/oXLvXK2Z0I

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 1, 2023

Gaetz’s announcement came just hours after the CR was passed, and says it’s the latest in a string of broken promises by McCarthy.

“This isn’t personal. This is about spending,” said Gaetz. “This is about the deal Kevin McCarthy made.”

McCarthy will need a simple majority of the House to stop Gaetz’s effort to oust him. If just five Republicans join the Democrats, it could work. Democrats, meanwhile, would generally be expected to back such a motion since they would prefer one of their own, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as speaker.

“I’m going to be totally blunt. There are a lot of trust issues in my chamber right now,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who thinks McCarthy is in trouble, in a statement to Fox News.

Byron Donalds on Fox News blames Kevin McCarthy for why he didn’t end up voting on the CR pic.twitter.com/HozOXvgaeE

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2023

As Bloomberg further notes, 

Even if McCarthy survives the current mutiny, Republican dissenters could call for a new vote at any time or impose procedural hurdles to block consideration of legislation. That essentially requires him to either maintain the alliance with Democrats—essentially a coalition government in the House—or resolve differences with hardliners who now have one more reason to resent his leadership.

In 2015, then-Speaker John Boehner resigned when hardliners threatened such a rebellion rather than rely on Democratic votes to remain in power.

House Democrats led by Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York could decide to bail out McCarthy, even if they don’t actually cast votes to keep him in his post. Enough members could simply not show up, hold back their votes, or merely vote “present,” lowering the threshold number of “nays” to removal that McCarthy needs to prevail.

Weeks ago Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) says he and other Democrats would consider helping McCarthy remain in power, but backpedaled on those comments after the speaker authorized the formal impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, which Phillips called an act of “pandering.”

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse,

If you are looking to buy a home right now, I feel so sorry for you.  The other day when I wrote that “life in America has never been more unaffordable than it is right now”, some people thought that I was exaggerating.  But the truth is that I was not exaggerating one bit.  The cost of living has risen to extremely painful levels, and this is particularly true when it comes to housing.  Since 2019, the median price of a home in the United States has risen by more than $100,000.  And thanks to the Federal Reserve, we are now facing dramatically higher interest rates. 

As a result, housing has become extraordinarily unaffordable.  In fact, a new report that was just released determined that homes are currently “unaffordable” in 99 percent of U.S. counties…

The typical American cannot afford to buy a home in a growing number of communities across the nation, according to common lending standards.

That’s the main takeaway from a new report from real estate data provider ATTOM. Researchers examined the median home prices last year for roughly 575 U.S. counties and found that home prices in 99% of those areas are beyond the reach of the average income earner, who makes $71,214 a year, according to ATTOM.

In the entire history of our country, we have never seen anything like this before.

A combination of insanely high home prices and suffocatingly high mortgage rates have literally frozen the housing market.

Until something changes, millions of potential buyers and millions of potential sellers will remain sidelined…

Housing experts point to couple trends driving up housing costs. Mortgage rates have topped 7%, adding hundreds of dollars per month to a potential house payment. At the same time, homeowners who locked in at lower mortgage rates during the pandemic have opted not to sell out of fear of having to buy another property at today’s elevated rates, depleting the supply of homes for sale.

“The only people who are selling right now are people who really need to move because of a life event — divorce, marriage, new baby, new job, etc.,” Daryl Fairweather, chief economist of Redfin, told CBS MoneyWatch.

Considering everything that I just shared with you, it should be no surprise that pending home sales in August were 18.7 percent lower than they were a year ago…

Pending home sales plunged in the U.S. last month as high mortgage rates deterred more would-be buyers and sellers from making deals.

The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index tumbled 7.1% to 71.8 in August, a much greater decline than the 0.8% drop analysts polled by Refinitiv expected.

Year over year, pending transactions are down 18.7%, the NAR’s data shows.

According to one analyst, a potential buyer would need an income of more than $125,000 a year in order to qualify for a mortgage on an average U.S. home right now…

The steep drop in pending sales in August, on the heels of reports of slower existing and new home sales at the end of the summer, suggests that the market is cooling, said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright Multiple Listing Service.

Overall, she said, total home sales this year could be below 4.2 million; that would be the lowest level since 2010.

With mortgage rates near and above 7% for all of August, purchasers’ buying power was crushed, and for many the math for buying a home just did not work.

“At a mortgage rate of 7%, a homebuyer would need an income of over $125,000 to qualify for a loan to purchase a $400,000 home,” said Sturtevant.

So the vast majority of us are just going to have to wait until the market shifts.

Of course housing is not the only thing that has become ridiculously expensive.

According to CNN, the price of a box of Girl Scout cookies is going up to six dollars this year…

Girl Scout cookies are getting more expensive. In some places, at least.

At least one New York State chapter, the Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson, told troop parents and other members of the community in an email this week that all cookies will be sold for $6 per box this coming cookie season — which takes place from about January to April annually nationwide – up from $5 last year.

“In order to combat rising production and material costs, GSHH will be increasing the price of all cookie packages to $6.00,” the chapter’s interim CEO wrote, adding “we expect our neighboring councils to announce similar increases in the coming weeks and months.”

I remember the days when it was common for people to buy dozens of boxes every year.

But now if you want to do that you will need to sell an organ.

Our standard of living is being steadily eroded, and meanwhile economic conditions continue to slow down all over the country.

Earlier today, I was saddened to learn that Epic Games is laying off workers…

Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, said on Thursday that it will lay off 16% of its staff, around 830 employees, as it attempts to reverse what CEO Tim Sweeney called “unrealistic” spending.

In a letter to employees Thursday, Sweeney said the video game company had been “spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic.”

“I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic,” Sweeney said in the letter, which the company shared publicly.

If even Epic Games is struggling now, what does that say about the overall state of our economy?

I am so concerned about where things are headed in the months ahead.

A major economic downturn is looming, the most chaotic presidential election in our history will happen next year, and we are already witnessing widespread rioting and looting all over the nation.

In fact, looters in Philadelphia just made headlines for a second consecutive night…

Looting has rocked Philadelphia for a second night in a row as brazen thieves ransacked a liquor store.

Shocking footage out of the City of Brotherly Love showed Fine Wine And Good Spirits smashed apart in the latest flash rob mob crime.

The brutes made off with the safe and raided the lottery machine on a night when liquor stores were shut down by the authorities.

For a long time, I have been encouraging my readers to consider relocating if they live in any of our major cities.

But now thanks to a combination of ridiculously high home prices and the highest mortgage rates we have seen in ages, most Americans simply cannot afford to move.

Unfortunately, most people will be forced to remain where they are as the events of the next few years shake this nation to the core.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

Democratic lawmaker Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) thinks we’re all idiots, after offering an unbelievable excuse after he was caught on CCTV pulling the fire alarm in a House office building while Democrats were trying to delay a House vote on the stopgap bill which eventually passed at the 11th hour.

Bowman – who founded a school that would have held several fire drills per year, wants us to believe he mistook this fire alarm…

…for an automatic door opener that he was trying to use to open a clearly marked emergency exit.

In a Saturday statement, Bowman said “I want to personally clear up confusion surrounding today’s events,” adding “Today, as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open.” (it’s not)

“I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door.”

For those who work on Capitol Hill — or even those who don’t — this makes no sense.
1) have you in your life ever activated a fire alarm in a large public building to open a door?
2) there are tunnels that take you from this building straight to the Capitol. It’s very easy. I do… https://t.co/FArSEHn7wz

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 1, 2023

And of course, galaxy brain AOC had to chime in…

What do these signs mean, Alexandria?

(This should be the new test to determine whether people are fit to serve in congress.) pic.twitter.com/RGuG2cumOc

— Shawn Quinn (@ShawnQuinn83) October 1, 2023

And now, Bowman has found himself under investigation.

“Rep (Jamaal) Bowman pulled a fire alarm in Cannon this morning,” said House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI), who added that “An investigation into why it was pulled is underway.”

As the Epoch Times notes; The fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building, often called the “Old House Office Building,” was triggered around noon, leading to an evacuation of the entire building while the House was in session. The building was reopened an hour later, after Capitol Police determined the situation was not a threat.

Capitol Police said in a statement late Saturday that an “investigation into what happened and why continues.”

The fire alarms in the Old House Office Building are pull down triggers encased in bright red boxes that read “FIRE.”

🚨🚨🚨 BREAKING: Insurrectionist Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman has been CAUGHT ON-CAMERA pulling the Capitol fire alarm seconds before critical vote to keep government open.

Violation of 1512(c)(2) obstruction of an official proceeding.

ARREST & Prosecute Rep. Bowman IMMEDIATELY! pic.twitter.com/3m883RB88A

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 30, 2023

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Capitol Police for further comment.

At the time of the evacuation, Democrat lawmakers in the House were working to delay a vote on a 45-day funding bill to keep federal agencies open. They said they needed time to review the 71-page bill that Republicans had just released to avoid a shutdown.

Lawmakers in the Senate in a vote late Saturday night passed the measure, sending it to President Joe Biden to sign in order to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1. President Biden signed the measure late Saturday night.

After the bill passed the House, a number of Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), criticized Mr. Bowman for having triggered the fire alarm.

New: McCarthy compares Bowman to J6ers who were charged with ‘obstruction’ pic.twitter.com/VYEHYMW2Z5

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) September 30, 2023

He noted Mr. Bowman’s action was caught on camera and said it “should not go without punishment.”

Turley opines

According to constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley;

In D.C., this would constitute a criminal misdemeanor. It would also obviously be treated as sanctionable conduct under the House rules. Even without addressing any attempt to cause fear or panic, here is the most obvious crime:

§ 22–1319. False alarms and false reports; hoax weapons.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to willfully or knowingly give a false alarm of fire within the District of Columbia, and any person or persons violating the provisions of this subsection shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine not more than the amount set forth in § 22-3571.01 or by imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Prosecutions for violation of the provisions of this subsection shall be on information filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

(a-1) It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to willfully or knowingly use, or allow the use of, the 911 call system to make a false or fictitious report or complaint which initiates a response by District of Columbia emergency personnel or officials when, at the time of the call or transmission, the person knows the report or complaint is false. Any person or persons violating the provisions of this subsection shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine not more than the amount set forth in § 22-3571.01 or by imprisonment for not more than 6 months. Prosecutions for violation of the provisions of this subsection shall be on information filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

*  *  *

Congressional immunity does NOT apply to Jamaal Bowman as interfering with Congress and breaching the peace is INSURRECTION pic.twitter.com/tbjSbqQIpd

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) September 30, 2023

Democrat Congressman Jamaal Bowman isn’t ready to face the music after pulling the fire alarm. I speak for all Americans when I say, arrest that nigga. pic.twitter.com/nEPAmSrE88

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) September 30, 2023

In case you missed it, this is the same stable individual who pulled the fire alarm today in the Capitol during votes. https://t.co/9IFpxKYH0a

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) October 1, 2023

.@RepBowman evacuating the U.S. Capitol like: https://t.co/oPRQIcytRH pic.twitter.com/FTuayMgmnx

— Prison Mitch (@MidnightMitch) September 30, 2023

Let’s see if Bowman, who by the transitive properties of bullshit is now an insurrectionist, will face justice.

Authored by Jeff Louderbeck via The Epoch Times,

Speculation that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will soon declare his run as an independent escalated further on Sept. 29 when he released a video announcing an event in Philadelphia on Oct. 9 when he will share “our path to the White House.”

“I’m going to be in Philadelphia on October 9, to make a major announcement at the very birthplace of our nation. I’m not going to tell you right now, exactly what that announcement will be. I can say, though, that if you’ve been waiting to come to one of my public events, this will be the one to come to,” Mr. Kennedy said in the video that appears on his campaign website.

“I’ll be speaking about a sea change in American politics and what your part and my party is in that change,” he added.

“A lot of Americans who had previously given up any hope and real change come through the American electoral process have begun to find new hope in my candidacy.”

Later in the video, Mr. Kennedy noted, “Our government may be broken, but our people are kind, brave, and caring that goodness is stronger than the divisions that are keeping us all apart. I see it every day on the campaign trail, and the more I see it, the more I trust it. And the more I trust that, the more the path to victory becomes visible.”

Mr. Kennedy’s campaign is planning attack ads against the Democratic National Committee to “pave the way” for what will be an announcement on Oct. 9 that he will run as an independent, Mediaite reported on Sept. 29, citing a text from a campaign insider.

Anthony Lyons is co-chairman of the American Values 2024 PAC, which is working to get Mr. Kennedy elected president. He told The Epoch Times on Sept. 29 that a poll they commissioned with Zogby International will be released on Oct. 2 and shows that if Mr. Kennedy runs as an independent or third-party candidate in a race against President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, he will start at 19 percent compared to “37 percent to 38 percent” for President Biden and President Trump.

The results indicate that Mr. Kennedy is “pulling equally from Biden and Trump,” Mr. Lyons told The Epoch Times.

“Critics of independents and third-party candidates always claim that they split the vote and serve as a spoiler, but what we are seeing is that people are disillusioned with both major parties and they are tired of partisan politics,” Mr. Lyons said.

“People are tired of being told what to do, what to think, and who to vote for by the Democrat and Republican parties, and they are open to an alternative candidate.”

For months after announcing his candidacy in April to challenge President Biden for the 2024 Democrat nomination, Mr. Kennedy told media outlets and supporters, “I’m a Democrat” when asked if he would consider running as an independent or third-party candidate.

During an interview with The Epoch Times in Columbia, South Carolina, in August, he reiterated that stance when asked if he would serve as President Trump’s running mate or run as an independent or a third-party candidate.

“I’m a Democrat. The Democrat party has lost its way, and I want to return it to its traditional ideals,” Mr. Kennedy said.

“I’m hoping to run in the Democratic Party. If it’s possible to have a fair election in the Democratic Party, I will run in the Democratic Party, and I haven’t made any kind of plans other than that,” he said.

Yet Mr. Kennedy has faced what he deems as multiple roadblocks to “fair primary elections” from the DNC. Earlier this year, the organization voted to give President Biden its full support. At the same meeting, the DNC voted to replace New Hampshire with South Carolina as the first-in-the-nation primary state. The organization has warned that New Hampshire will face potential penalties if that state’s Democrat primary does not comply with new primary calendar plans.

At a town hall in New Hampshire earlier in September, Mr. Kennedy told supporters that he would have to make a decision before Oct. 15 to run as an independent and that it would require around $15 million in funds to get on the ballot in all 50 states.

Under the proposed plan, New Hampshire must hold its primary on the same day as Nevada on Feb. 6 or face possible sanctions.

South Carolina will conduct its primary on Feb. 3.

Georgia and Michigan would follow, according to the new schedule.

Iowa, which holds caucuses, was removed from the list of early-voting states.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to supporters at the opening of his New Jersey office in Elizabeth on Sept. 28. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

Keeping Options Open

In 2020, President Biden lost in Iowa and New Hampshire to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders before winning South Carolina.

“They’re trying to make sure that I can’t participate at all in the political process, and so I’m going to keep all my options open,” Mr. Kennedy said earlier this month at a town hall in South Carolina.

“It’s pretty clear that the DNC does not want a primary. Essentially, they are fixing the process so that it makes it almost impossible to have democracy function,” he added.

“They’re effectively disenfranchising the Democratic voters from having any choice in who becomes president, the Democrat nominee.”

If New Hampshire is found non-compliant, the state could lose half of its delegates to the August 2024 Democratic National Convention, where the party’s 2024 presidential candidate will be nominated.

An unsanctioned primary would likely keep President Biden off the ballot.

Mr. Kennedy continued to tell attendees at town halls in Texas last week and New Jersey on Sept. 28 that he is “keeping his options open.”

Supporters who attended Mr. Kennedy’s opening of his New Jersey office in Elizabeth on Sept. 28 told The Epoch Times they will continue to back him if he decides to run as an independent or third-party candidate.

Philip Nicosia is a 28-year-old plumber who drove two hours from Pennsylvania to attend the event. He said he was a registered Republican who previously voted for President Trump and changed his affiliation to the Democrat party so he could vote for Mr. Kennedy in the primary.

“I was an independent, and then I changed to Republican to vote for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. I am voting this time for Kennedy because I believe he will do what he says he will do and not be divisive. Trump is exhausting,” Mr. Nicosia said.

Philip Nicosia, a former President Donald Trump voter, said he supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 election. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

Mr. Nicosia admits that he worries that Mr. Kennedy’s candidacy as a third candidate could draw voters away from President Trump and lead to another term for President Biden.

“We need anybody but Joe Biden, but I’m still gonna vote on principle,” Mr. Nicosia told The Epoch Times.

“I am voting for who I believe in, and that is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

Lauren Hanley is an attorney who lives in New York City. She is also a registered Republican who voted for President Trump and has shifted her support to Mr. Kennedy.

“There are people who back him because of his stance against (COVID) vaccine mandates, and there are people who support him because he stands up against corporate corruption. I think that, in this election, people are going to vote for the candidate who most resonates with them because they are tired of the fighting and the divisiveness,” Ms. Hanley told The Epoch Times at the Elizabeth, New Jersey event.

‘Surge of People Power’

In his video he released on Sept. 29, Mr. Kennedy said that he can win against the Washington establishment by rewriting “the assumptions” and changing “the habits” of American politics.

“We’re going to tap into a mighty surge of people power and reclaim an honest peaceful, just, and prosperous America,” he continued before inviting potential voters to join him in Philadelphia on Oct. 9.

Mr. Kennedy has drawn interest from conservatives, moderates, independents, and liberals for his vow to “heal the divide” and unify the country” by fighting corporate corruption, ending the Ukraine war, addressing the border crisis, and protecting Second Amendment rights, among other focuses.

He has also said that he will offer 3 percent mortgages for Americans funded by tax-free bonds, ban pharmaceutical advertising on television, and “work on changing the tax code to make it more difficult for large corporations to buy single-family homes.”

At every town hall and campaign stop, Mr. Kennedy rails against BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, which he notes owns more than 80 percent of the companies on the S&P 500.

If Mr. Kennedy chooses to run as an independent, Mr. Lyons noted that the candidate will have almost 13 months to “amplify his message.”

“Bobby Kennedy has been censored more than any other political candidate. I think a big percentage of the American public still doesn’t know about him and what his platform is. A big reason for that is the DNC … a result of the DNC censoring him and vilifying him with untruthful attacks,” Mr. Lyons told The Epoch Times.

“They are terrified of what would happen if there was a fair primary process and real debates between Bobby Kennedy and Joe Biden,” Mr. Lyons added.

“Bobby Kennedy believes in free speech, ending the Ukraine war, and a strong border, so he is a classic Democrat like his father (Robert F. Kennedy) and uncle (President John F. Kennedy). That is the opposite of what the DNC represents. This is not his father’s Democrat party.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced on Sunday that he will file a motion this week to remove McCarthy as speaker, and will use a parliamentary process that hasn’t resulted in the removal of a speaker since 1910.

The move comes after McCarthy reached across the aisle for bipartisan support to pass a Continuing Resolution which will keep the US government operating until mid-November, and then Democrats revealed that McCarthy had struck a side deal to guarantee Ukraine funds at a later date.

Wow.@SpeakerMcCarthy made a side Ukraine deal with Democrats and didn’t tell House Republicans until after his Continuing Resolution passed.

More deceit. https://t.co/LC91laLyTp

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 1, 2023

Speaking with CNN‘s “State of the Union,” Gaetz said he will file what’s known as a motion to vacate.

“I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid,” said Gaetz. “I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy.“

When asked how many Republicans were behind him, Gaetz said he has enough.

“Enough so that when you host this show next week, if Kevin McCarthy is still Speaker of the House he will be serving at the pleasure of the Democrats,” said Gaetz. “He will be working for the Democrats. The only way that McCarthy will be Speaker of the House is if Democrats bail him out. Now they probably will.”

Matt Gaetz wants McCarthy OUT:

“I intend to file a motion to vacate Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House this week. We need to rip off the bandaid.” pic.twitter.com/oXLvXK2Z0I

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 1, 2023

Gaetz’s announcement came just hours after the CR was passed, and says it’s the latest in a string of broken promises by McCarthy.

“This isn’t personal. This is about spending,” said Gaetz. “This is about the deal Kevin McCarthy made.”

McCarthy will need a simple majority of the House to stop Gaetz’s effort to oust him. If just five Republicans join the Democrats, it could work. Democrats, meanwhile, would generally be expected to back such a motion since they would prefer one of their own, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as speaker.

“I’m going to be totally blunt. There are a lot of trust issues in my chamber right now,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who thinks McCarthy is in trouble, in a statement to Fox News.

Byron Donalds on Fox News blames Kevin McCarthy for why he didn’t end up voting on the CR pic.twitter.com/HozOXvgaeE

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2023

As Bloomberg further notes, 

Even if McCarthy survives the current mutiny, Republican dissenters could call for a new vote at any time or impose procedural hurdles to block consideration of legislation. That essentially requires him to either maintain the alliance with Democrats—essentially a coalition government in the House—or resolve differences with hardliners who now have one more reason to resent his leadership.

In 2015, then-Speaker John Boehner resigned when hardliners threatened such a rebellion rather than rely on Democratic votes to remain in power.

House Democrats led by Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York could decide to bail out McCarthy, even if they don’t actually cast votes to keep him in his post. Enough members could simply not show up, hold back their votes, or merely vote “present,” lowering the threshold number of “nays” to removal that McCarthy needs to prevail.

Weeks ago Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) says he and other Democrats would consider helping McCarthy remain in power, but backpedaled on those comments after the speaker authorized the formal impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, which Phillips called an act of “pandering.”

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The company that manufactures remdesivir, used across the United States to treat COVID-19, has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over allegations it deceptively promoted the drug without disclosing possible side effects.

Two California residents, one of whom is a relative of a person who died after receiving remdesivir, lodged the suit against Gilead Sciences in Shasta County on Sept. 26.

Deborah Fust, the surviving spouse of Michael Fust, and Edward Pimentel, who says he was injured after receiving remdesivir, are accusing California-based Gilead of failing to mention documented side effects in its promotion of remdesivir.

“It’s a terrible drug. The nonprofit has thousands of members who have the hospital records, and you can see there’s a big difference in the creatinine levels and the blood levels, kidney readings after they get the remdesivir,” Bradford Geyer, an attorney with Former Feds Group who is representing the plaintiffs, told The Epoch Times.

The FormerFedsGroup Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit, has compiled some of the cases on its website.

The suit says that Gilead’s press releases and statements to consumers and investigators from Gilead show “a pattern of downplaying or omitting altogether the clinical dangers experienced by patients from remdesivir use, instead emphasizing its supposed benefits, safety, and efficacy.”

For example, a website for the drug, also known as veklury, makes no mention of kidney problems. A handout (pdf) given to patients also does not mention the issues.

“Defendant’s advertising that remdesivir is a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19 is false and misleading to a reasonable consumer, including plaintiffs, because defendant in fact knew or should have known, based upon prior studies and data on remdesivir, that it was unsafe and posed a high risk of severe adverse effects and death to plaintiffs and the class,” the suit states.

The advertising “misrepresented and/or omitted the true content and nature of the drug,” it also says.

Gilead did not respond to a request for comment.

Plaintiffs are seeking class status, which would enable two groups of people to join the suit. They are people who received remdesivir while hospitalized with COVID-19 and suffered serious injuries as a result, and people whose loved ones died after receiving remdesivir after being hospitalized with COVID-19.

Early FDA Authorization

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency authorization to Gilead for remdesivir in May 2020, primarily based on results from a government-sponsored trial in which researchers changed the endpoint midway. Critics said the change was done in order to garner positive results. The trial found remdesivir quickened recovery time from COVID-19.

The agency made the move without consulting its advisory committee on antimicrobial drugs.

The FDA approved remdesivir in October 2020 and expanded its allowable use to outpatient settings and children.

Soon after, a large trial run by the World Health Organization found remdesivir did not quicken recovery time or reduce mortality. The group recommended against using remdesivir in hospitalized patients, which ran counter to the recommendation in the United States.

Animal studies found indications that remdesivir injured the kidney. The U.S. trial found kidney injuries among remdesivir recipients, including in three patients who were forced to stop taking the drug.

Other studies, as well as post-approval data, have also raised safety and effectiveness concerns.

Researchers reviewing reports to VigiBase, a World Health Organization database, for instance, found reports of kidney injuries after remdesivir were far higher than reports of kidney injuries after other COVID-19 treatments.

Before receiving remdesivir, American patients are instructed (pdf) by the FDA to disclose all of their medical conditions, including kidney problems.

Gilead, while promoting remdesivir, needed to disclose the risk of kidney injuries, according to the new suit.

By not doing so, the company allegedly violated California laws against using deceptive practices and making untrue or misleading statements.

Gilead also made negligent misrepresentations, resulting in unjust enrichment, the suit says.

Plaintiffs are seeking an order establishing a class, an order preventing Gilead from engaging in “unfair, unlawful, and deceptive business practices, and false advertising,” an order forcing Gilead to correct its previous advertisements, an order ordering Gilead to recall and destroy misleading and deceptive advertising materials, an order requiring Gilead to pay back money obtained by the allegedly violative actions, and an order compelling Gilead to pay restitution and interest.

Plaintiffs also want damages.

Follows Michigan Ruling

The new suit comes after a court in Michigan ruled that remdesivir was not protected under federal law against an action brought by a man who needed his leg amputated after receiving remdesivir.

The man, Don Nowacki, also suffered two strokes.

The remdesivir he received was said to be contaminated with glass particles.

Gilead argued that it could not be sued because of immunity granted by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, which was triggered by the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The judge rejected that argument, finding the act did not cover the manufacturer in the situation.

Mr. Nowacki and his lawyers are now poised to receive discovery, with a trial coming later.

“One of the things that we’re going to figure out is exactly what Gilead, the FDA, and the hospital knew and when,” Ven Johnson, one of the lawyers, told The Epoch Times. “How did glass particles that could cause strokes and death in people get into this medication? Why aren’t these people approaching us to get our client’s medical records to understand what happened?”